- Suns coach Earl Watson believes shooting guard Devin Booker is a star in the making, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays. Booker lit up the Trail Blazers for 34 points in three quarters this preseason and Watson marvels at his scoring ability, Coro continues. “He scored every way possible, so you like everything that he did,” Watson told Coro. “You can tell 19 years of age and his maturity and patience in the half-court and the way he can score is very unique. I’m not sure there’s a lot of people his age or a lot of people in the NBA who can do that.”
The Suns trimmed their roster to 16 players by waiving center Gracin Bakumanya, forward Derek Cooke Jr. and guard Shaquille Harrison, the team announced today.
All three players signed with Phoenix on September 25th, but none saw any playing time during the team’s first three preseason games. They will all likely wind up with the Suns’ D-League affiliate, suggests Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. (Twitter link).
Bakumanya was an international early-entry candidate who hails from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was part of the Rockets’ summer league team and spent last season in France.
Cooke has a history with the organization. He played for the Suns’ D-League affiliate in Bakersfield last year and was part of the Phoenix entry in the summer league.
Harrison went undrafted after playing college ball at Tulsa and earning All-American Athletic Conference second team honors.
All teams must cut their rosters down to 15 players by October 24th.
- As P.J. Tucker makes his return from back surgery, his focus is not on his impending free agency after the season, but on helping the Suns make it to the postseason, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. “This might be the most highly motivated year I’ve had in my career,” Tucker said. “People tend to think you get comfortable because you’ve been on a team so long. I’m pushing myself. I’ve been on the sideline pushing my teammates. I’ve been here a long time and I haven’t made the playoffs yet. It may be a contract year, but more than anything, I want to make playoffs. That’s the only thing I’m thinking about right now.”
- The Suns believe Tyler Ulis can be part of the team’s long-term plans and they plan to bring him along slowly, Tyler Emerick of NBA.com writes. Ulis may not see many minutes this season because of the team’s backcourt depth, but coach Earl Watson has a plan for the Kentucky product. “He has to be close to our coaches – in the next seat over,” Watson said. “He has to read the play calls of the other team. He has to call them back on the bench and learn the other team’s offense. So when he gets the opportunity, he’s well-prepared mentally.”
If the Suns have interest in moving point guard Brandon Knight, a strong start would help create a “palatable” market for him, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.com (Links here). Knight, who has four years and approximately $57MM remaining on his contract, has become a backup behind Eric Bledsoe and shooting guard Devin Booker.
The Suns’ current blueprint has Knight, who is not a classic point guard, transitioning into a Jamal Crawford, instant-offense type of role player. That wasn’t the original plan when they gave up a protected first-round pick they possessed from the Lakers and forwarded it to the Sixers, Lowe points out. There isn’t much of a market for Knight now, but that could change if he plays well early on, due to the lack of quality wings around the league, Lowe adds. The club is not interested in moving Bledsoe, sources told Lowe.
Former UNC standout and 2005 lottery pick Rashad McCants hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2009, but he has played in Puerto Rico, China, Brazil, Lebanon, the Philippines, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic since then. Could his next stop be back in America? According to Chris Reichert of Upside and Motor (Twitter link), McCants may sign with the D-League in the hopes of making his way back onto an NBA roster.
While we wait to see what McCants’ future holds, let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the league…
- According to a report from Marca in Spain (translation via Sportando), Sergio Llull‘s buyout with Real Madrid was increased from five million euros to 12 million euros in his most recent contract extension with the team. This runs counter to a 2015 report that suggested Llull’s NBA buyout had been reduced with his new deal. If it’s true, it will make a signing even trickier for the Rockets, who would like to bring the Spanish star to Houston in 2017.
- The NBA D-League is making changes to the way it populates its pool of draft-eligible players. Adam Johnson of D-League Digest has the details, along with his thoughts on the adjustments.
- Kenneth Faried, who reportedly remains on the trade block in Denver, is one of the Western Conference players most likely to be traded this season, according to Kevin Pelton and a group of ESPN.com writers (Insider-only link). In addition to Faried, the list also features multiple Suns and Kings veterans.
- ESPN.com’s NBA Insiders also took a look at the Eastern Conference players most likely to be traded this season, including Jaylen Brown, Mario Hezonja, and a pair of Sixers bigs.
10:16am: Cole drew some NBA interest from the Cavs, Nuggets, and Suns, but no team was willing to offer him more than the minimum, according to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net, who adds that Cole’s deal in China is believed to be worth about $5MM.
8:56am: Norris Cole is headed overseas for the coming season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, who passes along a report from Zhang Duo (Twitter link). International basketball reporter David Pick confirms (via Twitter) that Cole has signed with the Shandong Golden Stars of the Chinese Basketball Association, per the guard’s agent.
Cole, who turns 28 this month, appeared in 45 games for the Pelicans last season, starting 23 of them. He set new career highs with 10.6 PPG, 3.7 APG, and 3.4 RPG, though his FG% (.405) and 3PT% (.324) were a little below his career marks. Before joining the Pelicans, the former first-round pick had spent three and a half seasons in Miami with the Heat.
A recent report suggested that Cole was drawing interest from Cleveland as the team considered adding point guard depth, but the Cavs ultimately decided to add Toney Douglas, perhaps prompting Cole to accept an offer elsewhere.
By signing with Shandong, Cole will be joining the team that signed NBA free agent Jason Thompson earlier in the offseason. According to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net (via Twitter), Cole’s deal is believed to have an NBA out. The Chinese regular season typically ends in February, with the playoffs wrapping up in March, so assuming Cole didn’t sign a multiyear pact – which seems like a safe bet – he should have the opportunity to return to the NBA before the end of the 2016/17 campaign.
Suns coach Earl Watson has already named his starting lineup for the regular season and second-year player Devin Booker received the nod at shooting guard, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic reports. This means that Brandon Knight will shift into the sixth man role, Coro adds. “That’s the starting lineup for the season,” Watson said. “We’re not wasting time. We’re not lingering with inner-competition. Brandon Knight is not a bench player. He’s a starter in this league. He’s sacrificed the most for our group. He took it like the pro he is because he understands the opportunity that we have to be special. Do players like coming off the bench? No, and we embrace that. That’s the inner-competitive nature that we need.”
- Toney Douglas, who signed with the Cavaliers earlier today, also drew interest from the Nuggets and the Suns, Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net relays (via Twitter).
- The Suns‘ T.J. Warren is fully recovered from the broken foot that ended his season in January, writes Tyler Emerick of NBA.com. The third-year player could see increased minutes at the start of the season with P.J. Tucker recovering from a back injury. “T.J. has been great all training camp,” said teammate Eric Bledsoe. “I can’t stop talking about him. He looks great.”
Veteran center Tyson Chandler isn’t upset that the Suns selected two big men (Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss) in the first round of this year’s NBA Draft, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. “I thought it was good for the future to be quite honest,” Chandler said. “I thought that was where we lacked last year – at power forward. We’ve already got young guards with all the shooting in the world so we needed to build on that side of the ball. That’s what I came here for. That’s my job, to help hand the leadership off. It’s even that much more important for me to teach them how things are supposed to be done. I want to be part of this franchise getting back to the glory days. I feel like I’m definitely going to tap into it. I feel like we’ll be better than people expect. Just the competition. If we play like we’ve been playing out here, that’s good enough for me.”